Photo of charred corpses from Tanzania shared as Bokaro steel plant fire tragedy

A horrifying image showing a large number of charred bodies lying on the ground, has been shared on social media with the words, “बोकारो टाटा सटिल कंपनी मे लगी भिसण आग जिसमे 100 से जादा लोगो कि मोत हो गई” (Over 100 people killed in a massive fire at the Tata steel company in Bokaro- translation). The photograph is of disturbing nature. Viewer discretion is advised.

बोकारो टाटा सटिल कंपनी मे लगी भिसण आग जिसमे 100 से जादा लोगो कि मोत हो गई….@DeepakD92548936 pic.twitter.com/YKMisVIwms

— 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳दीपक दूबे🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@DeepakD92548936) September 27, 2019

The same has been shared on WhatsApp.

Alt News has received a request on the official app for verification of this claim, that a massive fire resulted in the tragic death of over a hundred people at the Tata steel plant in Bokaro, Jharkhand.

FACT CHECK

While a massive fire had indeed broken out at the Bokaro Steel Plant on September 22, luckily, there were no casualties. So, the claim that over 100 people died in the fire at the Bokaro steel plant is bogus. According to reports, fire broke out in the distillation unit of the plant, and had to be combated for six hours with more than ten firefighting vehicles. If no casualty has occurred, it naturally follows that the photograph which has been shared, does not pertain to the fire at the Bokaro steel plant.

IMAGE FROM TANZANIA

Alt News used the reverse-image search tool, and according to the search result, the image was from Morogoro in Tanzania.

On the basis of this information and with the use of relevant key words, Alt News found that a massive fuel tank explosion in the town of Morogoro in Tanzania in August 2019 had killed over 60 people. According to a report by The New York Times, “Witnesses in Morogoro told The Associated Press that scores of people had gathered around the fuel tanker after it was involved in an accident early on Saturday. They said people were trying to take fuel when the tanker burst into flames.” The casualty figure later crossed one hundred.

Alt News then reverse-searched the image on Yandex, and found that the viral image does indeed pertain to the tragedy in Tanzania. We found the photograph in an article on a Belarusian news website which had reported the explosion in Morogoro.

A disturbing image showing charred bodies left by a massive gas tanker explosion in Tanzania, has been falsely shared as the recent fire at the Bokaro steel plant. It may be noted that there has not been a single casualty in the fire at the steel plant in Bokaro.